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Joshua Marrott

Professor Allison Fernley

English 1010

April 15, 2019

A New Age of Technology

A new age of technology is upon us as a society whether we like it or not. Artificial

intelligence is being developed by every economic superpower and in order to stay competitive a

society must move forward with it as a nation. This technology will impact all industries such as

the labor market, transportation, healthcare, education and national security. As a society we

have been led to believe that it is a terrifying thing to move towards, but there are some good

things that we have already gained with the experimentation of this new technology. Much like

the internet’s arrival it will be a hard transition, but it is a necessary one. The main question we

need to ask ourselves is “What can we do as a society to ensure that this technology remains as a

solution rather than a problem.” The first thing that we as a society need to do is to ensure that

artificial intelligence succeeds is find a way that the public’s opinion continues to grow in favor

of this technology. In “More Americans in favor of AI than fear it,” James Vincent quotes a

survey that gives an overall opinion of how Americans feel about this type of technology. He

states “forty-one percent of respondents said they somewhat or strongly supported the

development of AI, while 22 percent said they somewhat or strongly opposed it.” Even though it

has a higher percentage of people in favor, it needs to be a higher percentage. I believe that we

need to address all concerns in the industries and try to find solutions to aid the transition for the

public.
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When people think of artificial intelligence the main thing that comes to mind is either

self-driving cars or the terminator. The idea that robots can act on their own is and always will be

something that common Americans will bring up. Honestly, the scientific community doesn’t

believe that they will act on their own but the fear is more around the idea of the “black box.”

According to Will Knight, author or the article “The Dark Secret at the Heart of AI,” the black

box is the idea of how a computer program comes to a solution that it was designed for. The

unknown surrounding this subject is what truly stumps scientists. According to Bronwyn Howell,

transparency is a key solution to the idea of the black box. Howell argues that if we don’t have

transparency that there will be a constant problem with what a company will release about the

algorithms, meaning a company that might buy the product doesn’t know exactly how it works.

There is no clear-cut answer how to answer this problem due to the fact that the people who

create it currently don’t have to release the information due to it being their intellectual property.

I believe that transparency is important and in order ease the public’s mind surrounding this we

need to have strict regulations in place so that we can somewhat understand how this technology

can work. The government should start to work on implanting these regulations now so that

when the transition does happen, we are ready to give everyone a peace of mind that the

programs will work and we understand a little bit better how they work as well.

The labor market is already a volatile issue and will always be the number one issue in

the public’s eyes due to job security. The transition from a human operated workforce to a

computer operated workforce is going to be the biggest transition that the world has ever seen.

Projections show that by 2030 Americans that will need to find new occupations could be

anywhere from 16 million to 54 million according to Steve Lohr. That range is an assumption

based on how many companies adopt this new technology. I believe a way to aid this transition
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and make it less harsh is to find ways to have the programs work with humans rather than just

outright removing the human. The idea that blue collar positions are most at risk is simply not

true. In the article “New Blue-Collar Jobs Will Survive the Rise of AI,” by Craig Torres he

makes his case that blue-collar work and AI can actually help make this industry better. The

positions that the machines will take are the jobs that are easily automated such as janitorial work

or assembling parts to a product however, those machines performing those tasks will need

human operators. This is an example of how the transition could be a lot smoother because it will

help create a different type of blue-collar work. Jobs that require humans to read through test

results, research data or other important documents can be made more efficient with artificial

intelligence as well. Using those programs can free up time for those people that have to read

through all the information allowing them to work on more “important” tasks. In the “Building

Tomorrow Podcast,” Paul Matzko interviews a lawyer by the name of Nick Whitehouse who

uses AI technology to help improve his law firm with the ideas just mentioned. Whitehouse

believes that finding ways to augment the workforce rather than just ruling out humans will be

more productive for all industries. I believe that this augmentation is the key to aiding the

transition and actually could foster job growth in the long term.

Another concern to the public is that of national security. The fears surrounding nuclear

weapons is not something that we should be concerned with, the real threat is cyber warfare. The

reason why we should be terrified of cyber warfare is that a virus that can learn can easily

maneuver around a system that can’t. If this virus is able to access important information such as

nuclear launch codes it can be a devastating outcome. According to the survey, Americans are

more concerned with recessions and nuclear weapons than artificial intelligence. I think that is

because the public aren’t aware of the damage that can be done from a cyber-attack. Having a
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stronger cyber security system that can protect the national government and major corporations

is extremely important with the transition to this new digital age. With the benefits of artificial

intelligence in this area, there are also its downfalls as well. Imagine a virus that consistently

learns about the security system its infecting and is able to retrieve all documents or control the

machine. Now imagine a security system that can learn about a virus trying to infect the machine

and it is able to defeat any virus it comes across. A common misconception is that its just one

program that will protect the system when in reality it would be a string of systems that could all

speak with each other. Each program would have its own job reading and learning the code to

ensure it’s always protected. I believe that we should focus on getting artificial intelligence up

and running with cyber security before we have any implementation into the workforce. We need

to ensure that our government’s networks are safe and that we can keep the public’s opinion

surrounding artificial intelligence a positive idea rather than a negative one.

One good example that we have already seen in context of artificial intelligence is the

effect that it has had in the medical industry. We have already seen it be used to identify illnesses

within some patients and interpreting more difficult tests where a human could misread the data.

Not only will it help the patients but it could potentially help in the economic factor as well. By

2026 the potential savings from artificial intelligence could be about 150 billion in savings,

according to Jeffrey Hoffmeister. However, there are some challenges that artificial intelligence

must overcome to operate at its full potential. One issue is artificial intelligence being used

completely instead of having actual human doctors. Radiologists specifically are an example of

this technology being used over humans. A radiologist’s job duties are diagnosing and treating

diseases using x-rays and other imaging techniques. With A.I. we might not need humans in that

position. However, I believe that this is a prime example of where this technology can help
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improve the industry. By not eliminating humans we can have two approaches to diagnosing and

be as accurate as possible for the patients. Another issue that faces artificial intelligence in the

medical industry is the accuracy of it when performing its duties. I feel this isn’t that big of an

issue due to the fact that the data gathered needs to be correct as well for it to perform at its best.

As long as we give the programs the accurate data it should be able to read the information and

best inform the doctors of its opinion so that we can get the patient the best solution possible.

On the other side of the medical industry with mental health artificial intelligence can be

used as a powerful tool to help as well. Therapy is expensive and a lot of the time people who

desperately need the help can’t get the what they need because of those bars. In the article

“Using AI for Mental Health,” Michael Rucker explains the benefits and how impactful artificial

intelligence can be in this field. Artificial intelligence could be a valuable tool in the fact that it

could simulate an actual therapy session by using the same techniques a therapist would use.

Currently there are a few programs being used in this area. Some may say that these sessions

aren’t the same as a human interacting with a human, but in a world where a large portion of

people suffer from these ailments this is at least a stepping stone in the right direction. One thing

that makes these virtual therapists better than a normal human therapist is a willingness to share

information. For most people sharing embarrassing or traumatic stories can be hard for people

but with this being a computer program it might make it easier to share that information allowing

them to provide better solutions. Even though the public may not want virtual doctors showing

them the results and benefits that could come from it might make it better to them as being a

good thing.

Artificial intelligence is an extremely hot button issue for all industries. How can we

implement it? How does this affect humans? If we have these programs where does that leave
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humans in the future? This technology is still far off but those questions can and will be

answered in the future. But before we start worrying about the terminator T-800 we need to look

at the benefits that this technology can bring and understand that this it is still very much in the

experimental stage. But even though its still experimental it is coming and every world power is

working on this technology to help further humans as a whole. As long as there is public support

by showing the benefits in each of the industries, I believe that it will definitely have a bigger

and better impact to us.

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Works Cited

American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, “Artificial Intelligence for Cybersecurity,”

No Date, https://www.aiaa.org/protocolAI/

Hoffmeister, Jeffrey. “Artificial Intelligence in Healthcare – Do the Benefits Outweigh the

Challenges?” Healthcare IT News, 16 June 2018,

https://www.hitconsultant.net/2018/04/16/ai-in-healthcare-challenges/#.XLfrKuhKiUk.

Howell, Bronwyn, “Regulating artificial intelligence: Transparency and disclosure,” AEI, 4 Jan

2019. https://www.aei.org/publication/regulating-artificial-intelligence-transparency-and-

disclosure/

Knight, Will. “The Dark Secret at the Heart of AI.” MIT Technology Review, MIT Technology

Review, 12 May 2017, www.technologyreview.com/s/604087/the-dark-secret-at-the-

heart-of-ai/.

Lohr, Steve. “A.I. Will Transform the Economy. But How Much, and How Soon?” The New

York Times, The New York Times, 30 Nov. 2017,

www.nytimes.com/2017/11/30/technology/ai-will-transform-the-economy-but-how-

much-and-how-soon.html.

Matzko, Paul. “Will Artificial Intelligence Take Your Job?” Libertarianism.org, Building

Tomorrow Podcast, 20 Sept. 2018, www.libertarianism.org/podcasts/building-

tomorrow/will-artificial-intelligence-take-job.

Rucker, Michael. “Using AI for Mental Health.” Verywell Mind, 19 Nov. 2018,

www.verywellmind.com/using-artificial-intelligence-for-mental-health-4144239.
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Torres, Craig. “New Blue-Collar Jobs Will Survive the Rise of AI.” Bloomberg.com, Bloomberg,

1 Nov. 2018, www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-11-01/new-blue-collar-jobs-will-

survive-the-rise-of-ai.

Vincent, James. “More Americans in Favor of AI than Fear It.” The Verge, The Verge, 10 Jan.

2019, www.theverge.com/2019/1/10/18176645/ai-robot-survey-america-public-opinion-

future-of-humanity-institute.
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Reflection

1. The feedback that I received on my paper was minor errors to fix with my writing. I

forgot to add some words or I had sentences that did not make sense. The other issue I

had was that I needed to cite some sources in my paper. Specifically, the ones with

names. I have updated my paper with these revisions to ensure that the paper is at its best.

Additionally, the argument of cyber security was confusing to the readers so I made sure

to extrapolate on that point to make my argument more coherent.

2. I think the part to really pay attention to is the argument of cyber security. It was

confusing to the readers how this could be a major issue, specifically the part of a nuclear

threat. I made sure to make this argument seem a lot more understandable. I also made

sure to have good beginnings to all my paragraphs and cite all of my sources.